Saturday, June 8, 2013

Thanks
to globalization, today if we want
to taste the flavours of the world we need not travel around the world. Be it
Italian, Mexican, Thai, Chinese , Lebanese or American, most of us can have them in a restaurant near our home or
in the city we live. So our senses are
used to the pasta, lasagna, enchiladas, pad thai, waffles,bagels, pancakes and all.

What
we don’t get to taste are the true flavours of India. By true flavours I don’t
mean just the parathas , rotis, rajma, dal vaati, chaval of the north or the idli sambar, dosa of the
south. The true flavors implies the authentic sub-cuisines like the Awadhi, Amritsari, Lahori,Malwa, Kathiawadi, Marathwada, Vidharbh, Nagainallur, Thanjavur, Udipi,Malanad, Palakkad, Rayalaseema, Andhra etc., Though star hotels
often hold fests of these sub-cuisines , they are definitely prepared and plated commercially.

Evena slightest variation in the terrain of our
country leads to a different experience in culture, customs, dialect and
cuisine.The diverse seasons that we are
blessed with results in a variety of crops, vegetables and spices.Added to this the trade relationships and
the colonial influencewhich has helped
Indian cuisine absorb and evolve the various cuisines.Each region makes use of the colonial
influence, climate, spices,legumes, vegetables and fruits grown in that part of
that region making the traditional Indian meal a balanced and healthy meal.

Normally, if we were to eat
the authentic sub-cuisines of our diverse country, we have to travel to the
interiors of the country and taste them in traditional Indian homes where
cooking is still considered a ritual. In such homes, fresh raw materials are
sourced , spices are freshly ground in
sil batta ( mortar and pestel) and cooked on slow fires in traditional
metal and stone vessels which endow essence, aroma
and nutrients to the dish. These dishes which are hygienically prepared with
positive thoughtsmake the food healthy
and full of energy. There are many such sub-cuisines in our country like i mentioned above. Two of
which i know pretty well is the Udipi cuisine of Dakshina Karnataka and the Tambrahm Thanjavur cuisine of Southern
Tamilnadu.

So,
if I were to host a Gourmet party, I would choose the familiar "Tambrahm
Thanjavur cuisine"of Tamilnadu . The uniqueness of this sub-cuisine is it is
purely vegetarian and does not accommodate spices like bayleaves, star anise,
cinnamon, onions and garlic. The base ingredients are tamarind, lentils, yogurt, coconut, redchillies,
corianderseeds, pepper, cumin, turmeric and asafoetida. To garnish they use
fenugreek, mustard seeds, curry leaf and coriander leaves. The medium of
cooking is sesame/coconut oil. Permutations and Combinations of these spices
along with native vegetables and lentils
give rise to a variety of curries,thick gravies called sambar, kootu and watery
soups called rasam.. This is the cuisine I will showcase to my 10 potluck friends who hail from all corners of India like parwanoo(HP), Ambala, Kolkatta,
Vishakapatnam, Patna, Assam, Nainital, Amritsar, Cuttack and Indore. They would
be my guests.

Ambience:
I would decorate my home traditionally with festoons of mango leaves and coconut
glades and traditional kolam (rangoli) made of ground rice flour in the
frontyard. It is a tradition to sprinkle
fragrant rose water called Panneer ( panneer with a double ‘nn’in tamil is rose water) on
the guests. I would usher them in with
kumkum , chandan and mishri into a
traditionally decorated home which is valenced with fragrant jasmines. To make the place more fragrant, I will light
a few incense sticks and float a few fragrant frangipanis in urulis. I would
strategically place the artefacts of Thanjavur like the bronze idol of dancing
shiva, the thanjavur mirror plates, the tall kutthivilakku’s( traditional
lamps) to make the ambience artistic and
regional. There would only be korai pais( river grass mats) and small
wooden planks ( called manais) to seat my guests. No
elaborate or fancy chaise lounges , dining tables, swaroski artefacts or bar
stools.

Those are the festoons made from coconut leaves hung around traditional tamil homes on auspicious ocassions photo taken at Dakshinachitra.

Entertainment;
Since the theme is traditional , I will play the traditional Nadaswaram
music( a wind instrument like the shehnai) on my music system which will
gradually give way to some lilting carnatic melodies. Since, I don’t expect my multi ethnic Indian
guests to enjoy heavy traditional
carnatic music, I will avoid such music.
This genre of heavy traditional music can
only be enjoyed by people who have knowledge of the traditional music.

The
menu of a Thanjavur TamBrahm cuisine is elaborate.
Food is eaten from banana leaves or in silver plates. Food eaten from such leaves are supposed to reduce the
body heat and the trace element of silver when eaten from silver plates is
supposed to be good for a healthy life. Silver plates are not practical for me
so food will be served on banana leaves.

TamBrahm Food
is also served in a pattern where dessert is served first followed by main
course and then with Vetrillai pakku( Paan). Food is served on banana leaf in a
sequential pattern starting with sweet on the right hand lower corner.Just
above on the right upper corner would be raita followed by the various vegetable curries and gravies on the upper
fold of the leaves. First sambar rice is eaten, followed by rasam rice
and the curd rice. In between the rasam
rice and the curd rice , a larger helping of the kheer is served. The finale in
a tambrahm cuisine is the curd rice.

The menu for my gourmet traditional party with
help from ITC’ kitchens of India would be:

Menu of my gourmet theme party

Paruppu
payasam( Kheer made from jaggery,channa dal and slivers of coconut)

Asoka
halwa- the traditional sweet of thanjavur region made with moongdal

Vendakkai Pacchidi (raita made with fried lady’s
finger in curd)

Maanga
pacchidi (mango sweet sour raita)

Potata
curry ( a dry curry made with boiled potatoes and tambrahm spices)

Plain
rice( of the special ponni variety grown exclusively in this region)

Kalathha
paruppu ( dal which has no tadka but just haldi and salt)

Araichivitta sambar( a sambar in which spices are ground
freshly along with coconut)

A
tangy tomato rasam( a thin tangy dal soup made with tomato and spices like jeera and pepper)

Freshly
fermented curd

Vattral
kozhumbu ( a tangy sauce made with tamarind and sun-dried vegetables)

Narthelai
podi ( a traditional accompaniment for the curd rice like pickle made from the tender leaves of citron)

Mango
thokku( a spicy mango pickle made with shredded mango)

The tender leaves of this citron(narthangai) plant are used to make an accompaniment for curd rice called narthelai podi(also called vepillai katti). This is unique to the Thanjavur region.

photo courtesy: google

Food
in a traditional style is served in the above order. The places for the menu
are fixed in the plaintain leaf like
mentioned above.

After
the full course meals, I will serve my guests with the traditional kumbakonam
vettrilai( paan leaves) which the region is famous for.

It
would be difficult for me to prepare the dishes single handedly, so some of the similar dishes will be substituted with ITC’s the “Kitchens of India” shelf and for preparing the gravies and chutney i will use the ITC's ready made preserves and chutneys.

Location: I would have preferred a traditional home
with typical tambrahm architecture which would have plenty of cross ventilation
and natural bright light with the various
courtyards like nadu mittam(central) and pin mittim(backyard). The frontyard would have a cemented platform called thinnai which would be used
to rest the guests but it would be impractical to ferry my guests to one such
place, so It would be my own home dressed traditional tambrahm style

this is how a central courtyard (nadu mittam) of a traditional home looks like photo taken at Dakshinachitra

The stone platforms in front of the homes are called 'Thinnai' used for resting the visitors. I would have preferred a traditional home like this as a location for my guests.Photo at DakshinachitraThis post is exclusively written for Indiblogger's contest sponsored by ITC's kitchens of India.

right, madisar is the appropriate costume but the prompt never mentioned attire just location, entertainment, food and ambience...so skipped writing that:)

Sure tambrahm why not? but they know their food, culture and ambience. My intention is to showcase it to the world especially my potluck friends . everytime we have a potluck, we decide to bring regional food so they were the inspiration. They knew nothing beyond the regular idli, dosa and sambar. and So, this party we will have the full course.